1918: American soldiers cross the Atlantic

The state Division of Military and Naval Affairs is reminding residents about key dates affecting New Yorkers during the 100-year anniversary of America’s entry into World War I. This is an excerpt of its most recent press release.

As April 1918 became May, the 27,000 soldiers of the New York National Guard’s 27th Division left Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina and boarded trains and ships heading for France where World War I was raging.

The division left New York in August and September 1917.

Edward “Monk” Eastman (New York State Military Museum)

First to leave was the 107th Infantry Regiment, the old 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard. The 7th was famous as the “silk stocking regiment” filled with socially prominent members.

On May 9 the regiment boarded the USS Susquehanna and the USS Antigone, former German ocean liners which were now put to work carrying American troops who would fight German ones. Fourteen ships carried the 107th Infantry from Newport News to Brest, France.

The 106th Infantry left Camp Wadsworth on May 6 and boarded USS President Lincoln – formerly owned by the German Hamburg-Amerika Line in New Jersey May 10.

One of those on board the Lincoln was a Pvt. Edward “ Monk “ Eastman, 42, — a former New York City gangster. Because he was 20 years older than most of the men they called him Pops, according to author Neil Hanson.

Eastman and the other members of the 106th got off the Lincoln in Brest on May 25. (When the 106th returned in 1919, Gov. Al Smith restored his voting rights which he’d lost as a result of previous felony convictions.)

The Lincoln loaded sick soldiers heading back to the U.S., left the harbor, and was sunk by a German sub May 31.

The USS President Lincoln carried the 106th Infantry to France. On May 31, 1918 it was sunk by a U-boat has it carried wounded soldiers back to the U.S. (Courtesy New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs)

While the bulk of the American Expeditionary Force would train with the French Army, the 27th Division soldiers got ready to learn the British way of war and moved into northern France behind the British Army.